602 



INSECTA. 



to the younger Huber, is but an elaboration of honey; and the pollen, mixed with a little of this substance, serves 

 only for the food of these insects and their larvae. 



Huber distinguishes two kinds of Worker Bees : the first, which he calls Wax Workers, are charged with the 

 gathering of food and other materials for the building, and in their employment ; the others, or Nurse Bees, are 

 smaller and weaker, formed for retreat, and employed solely in the nourishment of the young, and the interior 

 economy of the hive. 



We have seen that the workers resemble the females in various points : various curious experiments have proved 

 that they are of the same sex, and that they may be transformed into Mother Bees, if, whilst larvae, and during 

 the three first days of their existence, they receive a peculiar nourishment, such as is alone given to the larvae of 

 the future queens ; but they cannot in such cases acquire all the faculties of the latter, unless they are then placed 

 in a large cell, similar to the royal cell of the queen larvae. If, fed with this kind of food, their abode is not changed, 

 they become capable of laying only male eggs, and differ from the true queens by their smaller size ; the worker 

 Bees are therefore nothing else than females, of which the ovaries, on account of the nature of the food with which 

 they are fed whilst larvae, remain undeveloped. 



The matter of which the honey-comb is composed not being able to resist the inclemencies of the weather, and 

 these insects not possessing the instinct to form a general envelope, they establish themselves in cavities where 

 their labours find a natural defence. The workers, on whom alone the labours of the hive devolve, form with the 

 wax honeycombs consisting of double layers of hexagonal cells, which latter are opposed to each other, base to 

 base, the base of each cell being pyramidal, and consisting of three rhombs. The combs are always perpendicular, 

 parallel, and fixed either by the upper part or side, and separated from each other by spaces which permit the 

 passage of the Bees: hence the direction of the cells is always horizontal. Mathematicians have demonstrated that 

 their form is at once the most economical in respect to the quantity of wax required, and the most advantageous 

 in respect to the space occupied by the cells. The Bees, however, have the instinct to modify their form according 

 to circumstances. If we except the cell fitted for the larva and pupa of the queen, these cells are nearly of equal 

 size; some contain the young brood, and others the honey and pollen of flowers; amongst the honey-cells, some 

 are open, others closed for reserve. The royal cells, of which the number varies from two to forty, are much larger, 

 nearly cylindrical, rather thickened at the tip, with small cavities on their outer surface. They are generally sus- 

 pended like stalactites upon the edges of the comb, so that the larva is always in a reversed position ; some weigh 

 as much as 150 ordinary cells. The males' cells are of an intermediate size between those of the queens and 

 workers, and are placed irregularly here and there. The Bees always extend their comb from the top down- 

 wards. They stop up the small apertures of the habitation with a kind of mastic, which they collect from different 

 trees, called propolis. 



The coupling takes place at the beginning of summer, out of the hive, and it is supposed that a single fecundation 

 suffices for all the eggs which the female deposits during the course of two years, and probably during all her life. 

 The deposition of eggs takes place rapidly, and ceases only in autumn ; Reaumur calculates that the female de- 

 posits 12,000 eggs in the course of twenty days in the spring. Guided by her instinct, she makes no mistakes in 

 the choice of the cells which are proper for the different eggs ; sometimes, however, when there are not sufficient 

 cells, she places several eggs in one, which the neuters subsequently remove. Those which are deposited on the 

 return of spring, are always the eggs of workers, which hatch at the end of four or five days. The Bees take care 

 to give their larvae the necessary paste proportioned to their age and sex ; and seven days afterwards they are ready 

 to become pupae, when their cells are closed with a convex lid by the workers, whereupon the larvae line the interior 

 with a layer of silk, spin a cocoon, and become pupae. In about twelve more days they become Bees, and disen- 

 gage themselves from these cells. The workers then clean out the cells they have left in order to be ready to 

 receive another egg. It is, however, otherwise with the royal cells, which are destroyed, and the Bees construct 

 new ones if necessary. The eggs containing the males are deposited two months later, and those of the females 

 soon after the latter. 



This succession of generations forms so many particular societies, capable of forming fresh colonies, and which 

 are known under the name of swarms ; a hive sometimes produces three or four in the year, but the last are 

 always weakest. Those which weigh from six to eight pounds are the best. When thev become too numerous in 

 the hive, these swarms quit their old abode. Various particular signs indicate to the cultivator the loss which he 

 is about to sustain, and which he endeavours to prevent, or rather, to turn the emigration to his own advantage. 

 Bees sometimes undertake violent cuinbats amongst themselves : the males also, after they have impregnated the 

 females, from June to August, are destroyed by the workers, which also kill the male larvae and pupae. 



Bees have both internal and external enemies, and are subject to different diseases. 



The Bee-keeper pays much attention to these insects, choosing the most approved hives, namely, such as are 

 the least expensive in construction, the most favourable for the rearing of the Bees, and the best adapted for their 

 preservation. He studies their habits, prevents the occurrence of accidents to which they are liable, and, in 

 return, finds that he is well repaid for his trouble. The origin of bee-keeping is hidden in the darkness of anti- 

 quity ; with the ancients they were the hieroglyphic symbol of royalty. 



All the species of Apis proper are confined to the old world : those of the south and east of Europe, as well as 

 of Egypt [and India], differ from our species, which has been transplanted to America and other colonized parts, 

 where it has become acclimatised. 



The terminal subgenus of Social Bees is 



Mclijiona, Illig. (Trigona, Jur.), which differs from the preceding by having the basal joint of the hind tarsi of 

 the workers of a reversed triangular form, and without transverse striae ; the fore-wings have only two cubital 



